The Calm After the Storm
by KevlarMasquerade
Summary: Expansion of 3x5, Haunted. Starfire feels uneasy about the stress of the events the Titans have just been through, and the raging thunder and lightning isn't helping. She goes to Robin for comfort, and he's glad she did, because he could use some comforting, himself. RobStar fluff


**I was watching Haunted because I decided that I wanted to watch a Robin-centric episode of Teen Titans and well… this. This fic works in continuity. This is shorter than most of my oneshots, and I actually struggled to get to 2,000 words. (I don't like posts shorter than that, personally.) **

**Disclaimer: DC and Warner Bros.**

_The reagent in Slade's mask didn't trigger itself. There was a signal. Somebody triggered it. From outside the Tower._

The words were played in Starfire's head incessantly. Over and over, like the ticking of a clock.

Raven was busy taking care of Beast Boy, who was sick with a cold- well, she wasn't taking care of him so much as she was telling him to suck it up- and Cyborg was searching for information about the reagent. It was easy for Starfire to slip out unnoticed.

She wandered through the halls of her home worriedly. She should go to bed. It was late. Actually, it was early. It had to be close to four in the morning. The crescent moon didn't offer much light, but Starfire knew her way around the Tower well enough not to need it. The Titans' rooms were all in the long hallway- Robin's on the right end and hers on the left. The rooms were spaced evenly apart, and the hallway was quite long.

She walked through the hall, tired and jumpy. The sound of her own boots on the carpet made her uneasy. She punched in the keycode for her room and the door closed behind her. Silkie wasn't even in her room. It made it seem somehow darker. And bigger. And scarier.

She flipped on a light and her room was washed in the light pink of her carpet, which made her feel more at ease. She changed into pajamas- a camisole and sweatpants- and crawled under the covers. She lay there in the dark, knees pulled up to her chest. The rain was still coming down in sheets, and the sound was making her uneasy. After a particularly large clap of thunder- she swore her bed shook- she bolted out of bed and the next thing she knew, she was in front of Robin's door.

She knocked gently, not wanting wake him up if he was asleep. He was probably very tired.

She didn't know what she would do if he was asleep, actually, because she was _not_ going back to her room.

Robin's door slid open, and her relief was wiped away and replaced with regret. He looked so beaten up. One eye was swollen almost shut and he had several scratches on his face. He looked a little bit better now that he changed out of his torn uniform. He wore a plain red t-shirt and black sweatpants. And his mask, of course, which emphasized the swelling on his right eye. "Starfire," he breathed.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to wake you." This was a bad idea. Actually, it wasn't an idea as much as it was an impulse.

"That's okay. I wasn't asleep yet anyway." He leaned on the doorframe, tilted slightly toward her. He didn't seem to be able to look her in the eye. "Is everything alright?"

She blushed. How to explain that she couldn't quite sleep… She didn't realize until now that the only thing she could hope to gain from coming to Robin in the middle of the night because she was frightened was an invitation to his bed. She blushed even more. "I… could not sleep."

He stood still for a second, looking at her. "Oh."

"I apologize- I did not mean to impose-"

"You can come in," Robin interrupted her.

Starfire lingered in the hallway, unsure of whether or not she really wanted to go in anymore.

"It's not that I didn't want you in here," Robin continued, explaining his hesitancy. "I thought you would be mad at me." He looked down at his feet.

She entered his room, her uncertainty quieted by the need to comfort him. "Why would I be angry with you?"

The doors closed with a _whoosh_. Robin's room was obsessively clean. There were no personal items or knick-knacks on his dresser. There was a collage of newspaper articles plastered to the wall in two sections of his room. One seemed to be about supervillains they'd apprehended, and another seemed to have clippings about any of the five Titans, and Starfire thought she saw a picture of a man dressed in a cowl that had pointed ears- she would have to ask him about that sometime. But now she had other things to talk to him about.

Robin wasn't answering her. Maybe he was adjusting to the fact that she was in his room. It seemed strange to her, too. "Robin? Why would I be angry with you?" she repeated gently.

He seemed honestly confused by her lack of understanding. "Because. I- When I thought- You-" the Teen Wonder fumbled. He gave a frustrated sigh and stepped close to her cautiously. He took her wrist in his fingers and pulled her arm toward him, then he caressed the spot that he'd grabbed earlier. Five tiny, purple bruises stood out against her golden skin.

She was silent for a moment, concentrating all the wrong things- like how much bare skin they had the luxury of touching without their uniforms on. Starfire's gauntlets were gone, which she was extremely aware of as Robin's fingers closed around her wrist. His gloves were gone, too, and there was something strangely intimate about his bare fingers on her skin. Then he dropped his hand to his side and air rushed back into her lungs. She didn't realize she'd been holding her breath since he first touched her wrist.

"You were sick, Robin," she reminded him.

He shook his head. His hands were balled into fists. "As easy as it would be for me to hide behind that reagent stuff, I can't. I got so wrapped up in Slade that I hurt you. I even threatened all of you."

Starfire closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the memory of shooting a starbolt at Robin to stun him. She hadn't even attacked him when Slade forced Robin to fight for him. She never wanted to do it again. She felt tears pooling behind her closed eyes.

She opened her eyes. Robin was running his hand nervously through his hair, and she had a wild desire to follow it with her own hand. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

He dropped his hand, giving her a baffled look. "_You're_ sorry? What for? You don't have any reason to-"

"I used my powers against you," she reminded him guiltily.

"When?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I did the knocking out with a starbolt. I brought harm to you. I suppose we are the 'even'." She closed her eyes and turned her head away from him shamefully.

To her surprise, Robin put his first finger under her chin and gently turned her face so that she was looking at him. "Please don't say that. It's not true. Starfire, you _helped_ me. All I did was lose control of myself."

Starfire gave him a small frown. She wished that he would understand that the superficial marks on her arm were not as important as the well-being of his emotions.

On Tamaran, her people welcomed their emotions and did their best to nurture them, as if emotions were living beings. Robin was so closed off, even when he seemed happy and laid back. She sensed that there was something broken beneath the surface, and if leaving little accidental purple marks that faded in a few days anyway was just another piece to help put him back together, she didn't want him to be sorry for it.

"It was not your fault. Just as it was not _my_ fault that I had to shoot you with a starbolt. We are the… consequential victims."

Robin frowned. "Victims of consequence. But, Star, if I didn't spend so much time obsessing over Slade, none of this would have happened. If I never went to look at that damn mask…"

Starfire pulled him into a hug, which quieted him. "You were just doing what you thought was best." She pushed herself away from him. "Even if I do not entirely approve of your methods, your intentions were good. And that is what truly matters."

Robin shook his head. "Have you ever heard the expression, 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions'? It doesn't matter if you _mean_ well, you have to do good in the meantime. And this-" he paused to brush his fingertips over her bruised arm- "was not good."

She looked up at him, noticing their proximity. She blushed a little bit, and he must have noticed because he dropped his hand and blushed a little, too.

"So… you're scared of the storm?" Robin asked, deciding to change topics.

Starfire searched for the correct words. "Not frightened. On my planet, storms often become much worse than this. Our atmosphere is lower, so it makes for harsher weather conditions. But after the events of the night, I find myself uneasy."

Robin gave her a small smile. "You can sleep in here. If you like."

He blushed, which set her off to blushing like it was contagious. "I do not wish to impose," she protested weakly.

"It wouldn't be imposing. I'm offering. Here; I'll stay on top of the sheet, and you can lay under it."

She smiled at him. It was chaste of him, and while it was an unnecessary precaution, Starfire felt reassured by the gesture. She wouldn't have minded both of them going under the sheet, their legs brushing as they slept peacefully. She wasn't sure if Robin was making the suggestion to make her feel more comfortable or to make himself feel more comfortable, so she kept that thought to herself. "Okay."

She settled in and Robin flipped the lights off before joining her, careful to place himself on top of the sheet.

She looked at him inquisitively in the half-light of the crescent moon until he noticed. "What?" he asked.

They were lying on their sides, facing each other. "Do you sleep with it on?" Starfire asked softly. Then, feeling bold, she reached her hand out and brushed her fingers over the outline of his mask, being careful not to bring any extra pain to his swollen eye.

To her surprise, he didn't push her hand away, and he even waited until she finished to answer her. "Yeah. You never know when the alarm is going to go off."

"I suppose. But would it not suit your injured eye a little better to give it air?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed with worry.

He considered this for a moment. "Uh… I guess it might…" he paused.

"Well? Why do you not take it off?" Starfire asked.

Robin sighed. "I've never- I've always- my mask-"

"You do not trust me with your secret identity?" Starfire asked, looking hurt.

He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her. "I haven't exactly shown anybody who I am. I mean, Batman knows… Batgirl and Batwoman…Alfred…" he froze. He'd already said too much.

Starfire yawned. "It is okay, Robin. Keep the mask on, if you wish. I merely did not want for my presence to make you feel as though you must change your usual routine and keep on your mask as you sleep." Sleepily, she reached up and kissed him on the cheek, her lips grazing against his mask.

He stared down at her. She looked up at him, alarmed. "What?" she asked, panic creeping into her voice. "I have done something wrong?"

Robin shook his head quickly. "No! No, I was just surprised, that's all."

Starfire cocked her head at him. "Why is that? I thought that it was Earth custom for lip-to-cheek contact to occur between close friends or family members."

He furrowed his brow at her thoughtfully. He supposed that was true. "No, you're right. It just surprised me, that's all."

"I did not make a mistake in decorum?" Starfire asked.

"Of course not," Robin reassured her. He paused, still leaning on his elbow. Then, with a sigh, he peeled his mask away and set it on the dresser next to him. He looked down at Starfire, almost like he was looking for approval.

She didn't know what to say. In the light of the crescent moon his eyes looked silvery-blue. She could do nothing for a few seconds but look up at him in awe.

"Robin…" she breathed, trying inarticulately to convey how honored she was, and how beautiful she thought his eyes were.

"Do… do you think you could do that again?" he asked hesitantly.

"What? The lip-to-cheek contact?"

Robin nodded.

She reached up, and this time he moved down a little, and she pressed a gentle, careful kiss against his cheek bone, perhaps lingering longer than was custom. It was hard for Starfire to tell, as lip-to-cheek contact was something she only knew about from seeing it on TV or catching people on the streets of Jump taking part in the ritual.

She sunk back into her pillow, and Robin remained propped up on his elbow, looking down at her. It made her blush, which thankfully she didn't think he could see in the silvery light of the moon.

"Good night, Starfire," he murmured, sinking into his pillow and putting his fingertips in the space where his pillow ended and hers began.

"Good night, Robin," she whispered back, laying her fingers over his.

In spite of the howling wind, booming thunder, and cracking lightning, the two teenagers rested peacefully until their late rising a few hours later.

**Aw. Aren't they cute. Haunted really makes you feel bad for Robin and totally creeped out. And then, when everything is happy at the end, it makes you feel creeped out again. The last. Line. This is somewhat resolved in the spinoff comic, Teen Titans Go!, where it's sort of implied that Ravager may have been the one to activate the reagent, but it's never addressed. What did you guys think of Haunted? What about Ravager, if you've read the comic? Comments about the fic are appreciated, too.**

**Also, be glad that I wanted to get to 2,000 words, guys, because if I didn't, the part about the mask wouldn't have come up, which I think is adorable, if only a little OOC. What do you guys think?**

**The title… I'm awful at coming up with titles, guys. I think it's harder than coming up with summaries. I don't understand why people put "i suck at sumarys jsut read and review NO FLAMES" as summaries but not "OMG gaiz titles r hard so im just gonna name this aftr my fave 1d songgg" as titles. But I'll explain it now. There's a calm before a storm, but after a storm, there's a calm then, too. In the post-storm calm, everything settles and basks in the glow of destruction. I figure that's what this is. I wanted to put the storm thing in, because, well, weather happens in this ficlet. I tried, okay? You can make fun of or support my choice of titles in the reviews, if you please.**


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